The sources said the policy-making Monetary Board had agreed to buy two "superline" printing machines worth about P2 billion each so it would not have to outsource the printing of peso bank notes.

Two Christmases ago, a European printer that supplied 80 million P100 bills misspelled President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s name as "Gloria Macapagal-Arrovo." As many as 2.092 million pieces were released for circulation before the error was discovered. It was the first time such a printing error occurred. The defective bills became a collector’s item and sold at a hefty premium in online auctions, going for as much as P900 a piece at one point.

The purchase of the new printing machine for the BSP’s Security Plant Complex in Quezon City will produce one billion additional bank notes each year, thus doubling the central bank’s capacity. The sources said the plan would be to eventually phase out vintage printing machines bought back in 1976 and 1981. The new machines will perform the entire cycle of bank note production from layout to printing and bundling, the sources said.

"If you get the superline, then you'd be able to produce the right amount of bank notes and save on the double cost of outsourcing," one source said. "Also, you modernize, because you’ll be able to produce additional bank notes without employing the same number of people," the source added.

For 2008, the sources said the BSP expected to produce another billion worth of bank notes. The sources also said that the new machine would reduce the risk of printing errors, like the "Arrovo" bills.

These "Arrovo" notes in circulation are considered legal tender.